Co-hosts of the tournament made a fantastic start to their run in the preliminary round Group B, defeating Papua New Guinea in a dominating fashion this Sunday in Muscat.
The leading Asian associate pulverised their opponent in Al Amerat, restricting them down to just 129/9 in the first half before reaching the 130-mark with all their ten wickets intact and more than six overs left in the game.
Initially, the bowlers, led by skipper Zeeshan Maqsood, made a short feast of the Papua New Guinea batting on a surface, offering a nice pace and bounce. Then, Oman openers Aqib Ilyas and Jatinder Singh helped their team sail through the run-chase.
The scenes were of complete contrast for PNG, who lost both their openers Tony Ura and Lega Siaka without them adding a run to the board. PNG found themselves 0/2 in the first nine deliveries of the game. Oman pacers Bilal Khan and Kaleemullah were in their elements and packed the first punch to the opposition.
Captain Assad Vala (56) and Charles Amini (37) led PNG’s recovery in a fine resurrection stand that threatened to overhaul the situation completely and put Oman under a great deal of pressure. But then, as is so often the case, a run-out changed the mood of the setting completely. Amini, who was batting in great flow and rhythm at the crease, got dismissed, and that handed the momentum back to Oman.
Vala crossed another fighting half-century, but soon he also fell to Kaleemullah. Then that miserable collapse took place. PNG went from a reasonably competitive 102/4 in 14.1 to 118/9 in 17.2 and eventually finished below 130.
This collapse was triggered by Oman captain and left-arm spinner Maqsood, who bagged 4/20 off his four overs, including three wickets to turn the game on its head in the 16th over of the innings.
On a good batting surface, with the ball skidding off the deck throughout the game, PNG began precariously and finished even poorly with the bat to end about 30-40 runs short.
Taking full advantage of the conditions and opposition’s helplessness, Ilyas and Jatinder struck free-flowing half-centuries in an unbeaten 131-run opening stand to finish off the proceedings. From the very beginning of the chase, the two batters made their intentions very clear. Ilyas (50*) still dropped a gear when needed, but Jatinder was in aggressive mode from the start, blazing a 42-ball 73*. None of the PNG bowlers could stop them.
In a preliminary round where net run rate could well be deciding the top 2 slots, Oman did their case absolutely no harm by ending the chase inside 13.4 overs.
Brief scores
Papua New Guinea 129/9 in 20 overs (Vala 56, Amini 37; Maqsood 4/20, Khan 2/16) lost to Oman 131/0 in 13.4 overs (Singh 73*, Ilyas 50*; Pokana 0/15, Siaka 0/17) by 10 wickets
